Freezing Injunction

Freezing injunctions are one of the interim remedies listed in CPR 25.1(1), where they are defined as an order restraining a party from removing assets from the jurisdiction, or restraining a party from dealing with any assets whether located within the jurisdiction or not — meaning the order can be confined to England and Wales or extended worldwide. The rules also allow a linked order requiring a party to provide information about relevant property or assets, including their location, which are or may be the subject of a freezing injunction application, so that the assets to be frozen can actually be identified. Because of the severity of the remedy, the power to grant it is restricted: only High Court Judges or other judges specifically authorised may grant search orders and freezing injunctions, unlike most interim injunctions, which any judge with jurisdiction to try the underlying action can grant.

Freezing injunctions can be obtained before a claim has even been issued, provided the matter is urgent or it is otherwise desirable in the interests of justice, and the court granting such pre-action relief must generally give directions requiring the claim to be commenced. They are also commonly sought without notice to the other side, on the basis that advance warning would let the target dissipate the assets the order is meant to preserve — but an applicant proceeding without notice must state in their evidence the reasons why notice has not been given. As an interim remedy the freezing injunction does not decide the substantive dispute; it simply holds assets in place until judgment (or a settlement) resolves the underlying claim.